A long term analysis of NBA officials and the fouls they call (or don't). Inspired by Bill Simmons and the horrible officiating in the NBA.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Cavs/Magic Game 6 (4rd Quarter/Post Game Wrap-UP)

Normally I would post the time stamp of calls like I do for every quarter, but I found it next to impossible to figure out anymore what the officials even considered a foul tonight. If you look through the Official NBA Rule Book, you see the word “minimal” used constantly to describe the amount of contact that requires a foul being called. Being a NBA official may be one of the toughest jobs to do properly because of how subjective a foul is. That is why it’s imperative for officials to make it clear to the players what the standard for contact down low will be for the game. Today, the referees kept flip flopping back and forth, which while not being the main reason Cleveland lost tonight, it certainly seemed to affect Lebron’s approach to the game. While others were getting fouls after very little contact, for whatever reason Lebron was not getting the same treatment. He would get hammered one play and receive no foul and then get a foul after being barely touched.

If you were to compare last nights DEN/LA game with tonight’s CLE/ORL game, you would probably infer that the officials did a good job in both games because foul totals and free throws were kept to a minimum. The problem is that low foul totals and free throws are only one part of what makes a officiated game considered “good”. The other part is making sure that you call a consistent game. That happened last night in DEN/LA, but not tonight in CLE/ORL. The refs in DEN/LA made it clear early what was going to be a foul tonight and what wasn’t. I was able to spot miscalls easily because I was able to look back at previous calls and see what precedent was set in the 1st quarter. I had no such luck in CLE/ORL tonight, it was brutal trying to figure out what the precedent was because none was set. It makes it aggravating for not only the players, but also for the fans.

That’s what won’t show up in the stat sheet and what inspired me to start this website. I know that right now there are probably very few people reading this, but you have to start from somewhere. All I ask of you, the reader, are two things. That if you like the site to please tell your friends/colleagues/enemies (if you find my posts torture) and if you don’t like it, to leave a comment suggesting improvements to make this site better.

If we have any hope of getting the league’s attention about the state of officiating we need to work together and spread the word. Only immense public pressure from fans (Die-hard and casual) will cause the league to change their ways, hopefully this site can do just that.